Goldman Sachs faces public anger over plan to replace shops with designer restaurants near HQ

For a bank that served up $16.1bn (£10.2bn) in pay and bonuses last year, it
is not surprising that Goldman Sachs likes the finer things in life.

Goldman Sachs has been accused of "breaking promises" by local residentsPhoto: Getty Images

By James Quinn in New York

11:01PM BST 01 Aug 2010

Little wonder then that when faced with a discount shoe shop, a pizza place and a travelling salesmen's hotel on the doorstep of its glittering new $2.1bn global headquarters, it might try to replace them with a string of designer restaurants and a luxury hotel.

Butthe Wall Street bank is being accused of "breaking promises" by local residents who live near the 43-storey tower at 200 West Street in downtown New York.

The bank appears to be falling foul of its neighbours' demands for basic services such as a supermarket and a hardware store. Out will go a DSW shoe shop, a recently closed New York Sports Club gym, and a pizza takeaway from buildings attached to 200 West Street, of which Goldman is the landlord.

In will come a trio of restaurants run by Danny Meyer – the New York City restaurant wunderkind – as well as a new ballroom and conference centre, attached to the hotel which will be upgraded. In addition, the bank plans 5,000 square feet of retail units.

"It appears that Goldman has no intention of replacing this retail tenant with one more attractive to the community," said long-term area resident Tom Goodkind of the closing of the shoe outlet at a meeting of the area's community board last week.

"This loss of space seems to break the promise made to our community," when Goldman originally got permission to purchase the building four years ago, he added.

Timur Galen, Goldman's global head of corporate services and real estate, however explained that both the gym and the shoe shop had asked to break their own leases following falling sales – albeit admitting that the construction of Goldman's tower could have had an impact on footfall to the area. He also defended the bank's plans, saying that not every retailer brought in would be expensive.

A Goldman spokesman added: "This building is for public use, not just for Goldman use," and stressed that residents had been consulted throughout about its plans.